In the Lawman's Protection by Janie Crouch

Author:Janie Crouch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-06-11T14:49:50+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Natalie screamed Ren’s name as he fell from out of her sight and she heard a splash below. She turned and ran as fast as she could to a place where she could slide down to the riverbank, praying the whole time that he was okay and she’d be able to find him.

At the bottom she saw the cat running in the opposite direction, thank God, limping more severely.

“Ren!” she screamed again, looking for him in the sea of white. His head popped up out of the water just a few yards away.

“Oh, my God, Ren!”

Natalie grabbed a branch and skimmed across the edge of the river until she got to a large flat rock that cut into the water, that would put her within just a few feet of him. She wasted no time crawling out on her belly, careful to keep her balance. If she fell in the water, they would both die out here. There’d be no way they’d be able to get back to the cabin.

As she got to the edge she could see Ren’s green eyes looking back at her, conscious but in agony as he swam toward her, cold making him sloppy. She threw the branch out to him. He grabbed it as best he could and she pulled him in.

She hooked her arms under his armpits and pulled, using gravity and her own weight to help hoist them backward, and was finally able to drag him out of the water and on top of her. Violent shudders racked his frame and she had to wrap her arms and legs around him to keep him from falling off the rock.

They subsided a little and she got herself out from under him, ignoring the discomfort of her now-wet clothes turning icy. It had to be much worse for Ren.

And if she didn’t get him to the cabin and warmed up quickly, his body was going to go into shock. Then shut down.

Reaching under his arms again, she hefted him until they both were on the shoreline.

“Ren!” She rolled him over onto his back and tapped his face with both hands when his eyes began to close. “Come on, solider. I need your help to get you to the cabin.”

“Na-Natalie...”

She kissed him hard on the lips. “Yeah, it’s me. Now we’ve got to move before you lose all control of your body.” His eyes started to close again. “Ren! I need you to stay awake. We’ve got to get you on your feet.”

Those green eyes looked back at her, glazed with pain.

“I know it hurts,” she whispered. Oh, how she knew. “I know everything hurts. Damien used to leave me out in the snow naked, as punishment.”

She knew exactly how god-awful the burn was from freezing. Like your whole body had been lit on fire with no chance for relief.

“Ba-bastard.”

“He was. Trust me, he was. But I survived and you’re going to also. Now I need you to stand.”

He nodded jerkily, and she got him to a sitting position.

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